1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a drum-type washing machine, and more particularly, to a drum-type washing machine equipped with a pulsator which is rotatable in a rotary drum, thus having strong washing effect.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a drum-type washing machine includes a cabinet, a door, a cylindrical water tub, a rotary drum, and a motor. The door is hinged to a front of the cabinet. The water tub is opened at a front thereof to have an opening which is opened toward the door. The rotary drum is set in the water tub to be rotatable in alternating directions. The motor functions to rotate the rotary drum. Further, a lifter is mounted on a side of the rotary drum.
The drum-type washing machine is operated as follows. As the rotary drum is rotated by the motor, the lifter mounted on the rotary drum is rotated along with the rotary drum to move laundry located in the bottom of the rotary drum upward, and allow the laundry to be pulled from a top to the bottom inside the rotary drum due to gravity. The laundry is repeatedly moved upward and dropped to the bottom during a washing operation, to apply a physical impact on the laundry.
A washing power is induced by friction between articles of laundry or friction between the laundry and the rotary drum, in addition to the physical impact applied to the laundry. However, the washing power applied to the laundry is weak, thus resulting in a long washing time and high detergent consumption.
To solve the problem, there has been proposed a drum-type washing machine disclosed by Korean Patent No. 0144329, wherein a pulsator is installed at a center of a rotary drum to increase a washing power. However, since conventional drum-type washing machine has the pulsator installed at the center of the rotary drum, sufficient physical force is not applied to the laundry which is located in the bottom of the rotary drum. Further, the conventional drum-type washing machine has another problem in that the pulsator is designed to be rotated in any direction, thus it is impossible to desirably apply a physical force to the laundry.